Generally described, industrial gas turbine combustors are designed with a number of discrete combustion chambers or “cans” arranged in an array around the circumference of a first stage of a turbine. The combustor cans ignite a fuel/air mixture such that the resultant hot combustion gases drive a downstream turbine. The major components of an industrial gas turbine can-type combustor may include a cylindrical or cone-shaped sheet metal liner engaging the round head end of the combustor and a sheet metal transition piece that transitions the flow of hot combustion gases from the round cross-section of the liner to an arc-shaped inlet to a first stage of the turbine. These and other components positioned about the hot gas path may be cooled by a flow of air through an impingement sleeve and the like.
Efficient operation of a can combustor thus requires efficient cooling, efficient transition of the flow of hot combustion gases from the combustor to the first stage of the turbine with low pressure losses, and efficiency in other types of operational parameters. Can combustor design thus seeks to optimize these parameters for increase output and overall performance.